John Richards

“Cheers to the dark. Cheers to the love for black. Cheers to the goth community. Warm wishes on World Goth Day to all.” -- It's Friday, May 22nd, World Goth Day, and you're listening to The Mourning Show with DJ Noctis Ravenway. -- "At once, the song is a delicate and poignant musing about the final curtain call we must all face but also producing themes of Oedipal relations, the destruction of one’s father and the song that got the group banned by the Whisky-A-Go-Go. It is, without doubt, the archetypal Doors tune.": bit.ly

This song, written by Lou Reed, features chanteuse Nico on double-tracked lead vocals. -- This was reportedly Andy Warhol's favorite Velvet Underground song, though probably more for having Nico (born Christa Päffgen) sing the lead than Velvet Underground's part in it. Nico was sometimes billed as "pop girl of '66." In the pages of the Village Voice, rock critic Richard Goldstein called Nico "half goddess, half icicle," and reviewed her, saying "She sings in perfect mellow ovals. It sounds something like a cello getting up in the morning."

This song describes the fate of the city of Pompeii, buried during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. -- "That was really inspired by a visit to Pompeii," frontwoman Siouxsie Sioux said. "There's quite a lot of tourism there, but the place itself transcends all that. You can think you're the only person there. It's quite immense, and at the end of the day, seeing the petrified bodies, it had a strong effect on me. The song was written, the music was written, when we got back from Italy, I wrote the lyrics. It was dedicated to one of the petrified bodies. It almost looked as if there was someone underneath this kind of plaster cover. I almost expected it to get up and move."

"To celebrate the fact That we've seen the back of another black day...." Read the melancholic lyrics to "Black Celebration": genius.com

"I didn't want the song to be specific to the vampire. I wanted it to be about the longing for family from a rejected youth's perspective, which I went through myself and that many of us have felt." Here's an interview with songwriter and singer G Tom Mac about this song from the soundtrack for 1987's "The Lost Boys." You may recognize him better as Gerard McMahon (or McMann, since he has changed his name): bit.ly

Florence + the Machine will play Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday, October 6th, 2022. Perhaps she'll play this song off her new album. (Well, an evil girl can dream...) -- Florence: " I think there’s something about being a young woman that feels very murderous. That’s what I was trying to get with a song like ‘Dream Girl Evil.’ […] When I see messy or violent or terribly behaved women, especially young women, there’s a liberation. To not have to try and survive by being good."

This song was written by Andy Prieboy, who in the mid-'80s was lead singer of the Los Angeles group Wall Of Voodoo. On his 1990 album "Upon My Wicked Son," Prieboy released a duet version with Concrete Blonde lead singer Johnette Napolitano. Concrete Blonde put it on their third album, "Bloodletting." -- In 2013, Napolitano told the story behind this song: ""Wendy was a real person. She was diagnosed with AIDS and rather than suffering the stigma, she decided to commit suicide. It's an old song, so this is a long time ago, and not that anything's changed much, by the way. But it's basically her dialogue with herself as to the decision she's going to make on her own. She's making the decision on her own, it's her one act of dignity in her life. And it's heavy, to say the least."

This is the second-to-last song on Bauhaus' 1982 album, "The Sky’s Gone Out," which is the last album they released before their 1983 split. --- The music video for this song features scenes of the David Bowie-led movie "The Man Who Fell To Earth.": www.youtube.com

Dead Can Dance were founded in Melbourne, Australia by Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard, a domestic couple who had been part of the Melbourne “Little Band” experimental post-punk scene: tinyurl.com -- "Into the Labyrinth" was the first album where Perry and Gerrard played all instruments, without guest musicians. It was written while they were living far apart and writing music independently (Perry was living on an island in the middle of a river in Ireland, while Gerrard lived in Australia with her husband and daughter) -- Want to see a live performance of "The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove"?: www.youtube.com

Listen to Nick Cave's former paramour, PJ Harvey, as she covers this one for the Netflix show, "Peaky Blinders": kexp.org. -- The title comes from John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, in which it refers to the vengeful hand of God. ("What if the breath that kindled those grim fires, / Awaked, should blow them into sevenfold rage, / And plunge us in the flames; or from above / Should intermitted vengeance arm again / His red right hand to plague us?". --Book II, 170-174)

In the official video for TV Priest’s “One Easy Thing”, the group’s excellent new single, singer Charlie Drinkwater is a beleaguered 15th-century knight on his return home from battle, and soon after, a solo danse macabre ensues.: www.youtube.com

See a live performance by The Black Angels in our studio, recorded last November: www.youtube.com

Holy F!! They'll be at Neumos on Thursday, June 2nd.: -- They say, "'Ninety Five' is the sound of drums literally collapsing under their own weight.": holyfuck.bandcamp.com

Sleep talking fascinates me. It's kind of like this bridge from our subconscious dream world state into the physical world. When someone is awake on the receiving end, the messages can be interpreted as cryptic, strange and even vulnerably revealing. I've been told I sleep talk in full paragraphs at times. I do wonder what comes out of my mouth, and what if anything it could add up to. - Matthew -- Matthew Dear's new single "Talking Sleep" is his first new music since 2018. You can purchase it here: matthewdear.bandcamp.com

"I'm the destroyer of everything..." The video for this song, featuring famed choreographer Ryan Heffington, is fantastic. Do not miss it!: www.youtube.com -- Robert Alfons AKA TR/ST stopped by KEXP after the release of The Destroyer - Part 1 early in 2019 and spoke with KEXP DJ Abbie. Watch this dark, intimate session here: www.youtube.com

This song was written somewhat spur-of-the-moment when the band was sitting around playing acoustic guitars. It started with the line, “I’m only happy when it rains,” and was built around the opening lyric. Lyrically, it’s a tongue-in-cheek take on the gloomy lyrics of earlier 90s rock songs. Butch Vig said: “'Only Happy When It Rains' was about what happened with grunge and the angst-filled thing which has dominated the American alternative rock scene. With us there’s self-deprecation, we have to poke fun at ourselves because we’re so incredibly obsessive about the songs and the lyrics, which makes us filled with self-loathing, hurhur." -- Watch Garbage performing "Only Happy When It Rains" live: youtu.be

Hmmmm... "Released in 1987, the album "Darklands" plays as a celebration of the gloomy and rainy springs of the group’s native Glasgow. The band seem to find the promise of new life that comes with spring rains exhilarating and appropriately mix candy-flavored pop amid the waves of skuzz and feedback that were their stock and trade. The track is a carefully crafted appreciation of the spring and all of its new possibilities as life seems to re-emerge after the bleakness of winter.": www.djdmac.com

Joy Division singer Ian Curtis took his own life on May 18, 1980 and the song was released as a single the month after. Yesterday, Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris appeared in Parliament to discuss mental health and suicide prevention.: www.nme.com -- The National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 800-273-8255.

This is NIN's powerful cover of Joy Division! -- Watch this mud-caked "Dead Souls"/"Help Me I'm In Hell" medley live from Woodstock 1994: youtu.be

You shouldn't miss the mesmerizing video for Desire's "Black Latex": www.youtube.com -- Montreal band Desire consists of vocalist Megan Louise and producer Johnny Jewel (a former member of Chromatics and Glass Candy). Their new album "Escape" arrived on May 3rd.

This is the first single from Working Men's Club's second album, appropriately named "Fear Fear," which will be out in July. Frontman Syd Minsky-Sargeant said about it, “I like the contrast of it being happy, uplifting music and really dark lyrics,” he added. “It’s not a minimal record, certainly compared to the first one. That’s because there’s been a lot more going on that needed to be said.” -- Watch their Live on KEXP at Home from April 2021: youtu.be

The lines, "They say "why are you dressed like it's Halloween? You look so absurd, you look so obscene" make this one a bit of an anthem for those that fully embrace goth style. See Ministry performing "Everyday is Halloween" in 2019 at Fair Market in Austin, Texas.: youtu.be

Robert Smith said in 1984 that this song was inspired by his experience of getting lost in the forest as a boy. "I try to capture that feeling of extreme fear I was being taken by and how - maybe in other ways - this type of unpleasant feeling can still be felt by anyone," he explained. -- This song is behind a famous incident. At the 1981 Werchter Festival in Belgium, The Cure were on before Robert Palmer and were just finishing their set. Robert Palmer, apparently getting a little pushy, tried to have his road crew hurry The Cure off the stage. Robert Smith responded by sassily informing the crowd that they couldn't play anymore, then played an extra-long 9-minute version of "A Forest." Bass player Simon Gallup put a stamp on the performance by shouting "F--k Robert Palmer" to a cheering crowd!

This song is part of Public Image Ltd.'s unused soundtrack for the movie "Copkiller." The phrase “This is what you want, this is what you get” is taken verbatim from a line in the film. The song has been featured in the horror films, "The Blair Witch Project" and "Hardware"

The song was originally issued as a B-side on Depeche Mode's "It's Called a Heart" single in the UK. However, the band was not happy with the sound and the track was subsequently revised and re-released as "Fly on the Windscreen - Final" on "Black Celebration." -- There have been at least five different versions of this song. Read all about it here: almostpredictablealmost1.blogspot.com

Automatic is the trio of Izzy Glaudini (synths, lead vocals), Lola Dompé (drums, vocals) and Halle Saxon (bass, vocals). Their new album "Excess' is coming out in June.: www.stonesthrow.com Automatic will perform at Neumos on Saturday and Sunday, September 10th and 11th. --

Founded in 1982, Nitzer Ebb (Goth name?....maybe) were the tough cousins to label-mates and touring partners Depeche Mode, all pulsing rhythms, rubbery synths and Douglas McCarthy’s performance style, which he succinctly describes as “shouting and pointing”.: bit.ly

Sisters of Mercy leader Andrew Eldritch described the track in a 1987 interview: "It's about the idiots, full of sound and fury, who stampede around this world signifying nothing. It's about people who sing about the revolution while selling it short, about people who sing about the corrosion of things while they themselves are falling apart. People who miss the point... It's also stupidly over-the-top bombastic, but rightly so." -- Jim Steinman produced this track. He used the 40-piece New York Choral Society to get a grand sound. Steinman worked on all of Meat Loaf's hits as well as "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" for Bonnie Tyler.

"I still believe in God But God no longer believes in me..." The song was written by The Mission members Wayne Hussey, Craig Adams, Simon Hinkler and Mick Brown. “Wasteland” (or “IV”) was released as the second single from the band’s debut studio album “God’s Own Medicine”. --- This video of a live performance is from a compilation program "Guy Garvey : From The Vaults," broadcast in 2021. From that you'll work out that the voiceover at the start is Elbow's Guy Garvey.: www.youtube.com

We're spotlighting the music of 1980 this week as part of KEXP's 50th anniversary celebration. This was the opening track of Killing Joke's self-titled LP, released that year. -- Killing Joke: The weird, wild story of revered cult industrial pioneers. Metallica covered them. Nirvana ripped them off. Nine Inch Nails remixed them. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. bit.ly